Yes to Sushi at Fuji Hana Thai Peppers

A few nights ago I left work and traveled an hour and fifteen minutes to Kennesaw, GA to join a handful of food loving ladies at Fuji Hana Thai Peppers for dinner. I know it sounds like quite the drive for a meal but it was worth every mile and every single minute. Despite a little undesirable weather, the evening yielded a relaxed experience filled with conversation, delicious food, drinks and a pleasant first time meeting with a dish that I have avoided my entire life.

After a brief gathering in the lounge, our group was escorted into the dining area.

I learned a couple days before dinner that owner, Nick Chompoonich, had planned a menu which included sushi as well as a few authentic Thai dishes. I don’t do Sushi. It just isn’t my thing. I was hesitant to even mention that fact but I didn’t want to offend our host by refusing the thoughtfully crafted rolls. I’m glad I did say something in advance because he was completely gracious and actually prepared a cooked option as well as three other favorites for the table.

The Alaskan Roll was the cooked dish, filled with Alaskan King Crab, avocado, cucumber and scallions, then topped with salmon tempura & eel sauce. It was simply delicious and I would have been perfectly fine eating just this one roll. However, as we sat around the table talking about sushi and the quality of the fish used to make it and Chef Nick’s approach to preparing sushi, my guard started to come down a little. I decided to give it a try.

One of the tips I learned and am happy to pass along is that tuna is a great place to start for sushi newbies. The roll that ushered me into raw territory was the Neo Tokyo Roll. It was made of seasoned fresh tuna, rolled, flash friend & topped with a spot Prawn & Kani Wasabi Salad with a Buttery Aioli. It was more than a mouthful so, on advisement, I ate the creamy shrimp topping first then carefully maneuvered the rest to my mouth with a pair of chopsticks. Why are they so much fun to eat with?

The flavor of the roll was wonderful and I was pleasantly relieved that it was so well proportioned…not too much or too little of any of the ingredients inside.

The Fired Up Tuna Roll was the second bite to bring me a step further into the land of sushi. It was a creamy tuna mix with avocado, scallions and tempura flakes, topped with tuna, jalapeno and Sriracha with three sauces to dip the rolls in. I shared the tuna topping with one of the ladies then ate the rest.

The fourth platter held Bankok Rolls. It was made of fresh tuna, yellowtail and cilantro, topped with fresh salmon & a chili, garlic, lime and fish sauce emulsion. Although I didn’t try these, the other ladies did and they seemed to enjoy them as well as all the other rolls.

The Sushi Rolls and Thai Dishes we tried were paired with Sake and Wine. Chef Nick took care to describe each in advance of serving the entrees. As he completed this task throughout dinner, I couldn’t help but notice how humble he is. He is well-trained in his craft which is evident in his food but his calm, kind demeanor was notable.

As we sat waiting for the Thai dishes to be served, we were taken by all kinds of wonderful smells from the kitchen. The recipes that inspired the dishes we tried were 3rd and 4th generation family recipes. I like to think that a meal is destined to be good when your family’s heritage is involved. It’s also good when shared.

The first dish we passed around was Pad Thai with Shrimp and Scallops. It had nice sweet and salty flavors with sour stir fried rice noodles, eggs, tofu, scallions, bean sprouts, ground peanuts and sweet, house-made pickled jalapeno slices.

The Spicy Holy Basil with ground Chicken was my favorite entree. It was a combination of ground chicken breast sauteed in a spicy holy basil sauce with green beans, bell peppers and fresh basil leaves. The topping was a Thai Style fried egg sunny side up and chili lime dipping sauce. The spice level was a little low on this one but that isn’t how it’s typically prepared. There’s usually a little more heat but it’s good to know that they can make that adjustment when needed.

The last entree we tried was this Green Curry, a native Thai favorite. It was wonderful! The broth and all the goodness inside consisted of fresh green chilies and coconut milk with bamboo shoots, red and green bell peppers, green beans, thai eggplant and fresh basil. This isn’t one of those dishes you typically think of during the Summer months but one spoonful will have you craving it year round. And, it doesn’t hurt that it comes to the table in such a lovely serving dish complete with a votive underneath to keep the curry warm.

For dessert we tried the Sweet Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango. The concept of rice as a dessert is unusual to me but it’s actually delicious. It was exactly as the name implies with coconut sauce and mung bean seeds spooned over the top and served with ripe mango.  It wasn’t heavy as one might think either. It was just right.

Overall, dinner at Fuji Hana Thai Peppers was worth the drive. The food was great and so was the company. Although I didn’t plan it, I’m glad that this restaurant is where I let go of my inhibitions and tried sushi for the first time.

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Disclosure: Dinner at Fuji Hana was complimentary. Thank you to Debbie Rosen with The Rosen Group for arranging such a lovely evening. I received no monetary compensation for this post. All opinions are based on my own personal experiences and were not influenced by the host. You can view my full Disclosure Policy here.